Over Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to have the one thing we are the most thankful for - visitors from back home! Our friend H and her boyfriend N took advantage of the extra days off to take a 2.5 week trip to Sydney, New Zealand and Fiji. Even though they were only here for six days, we were able to cram a lot in.
H&N spent Thanksgiving Day down in Hobbiton while Rob and I were at work (there's no such thing as Thanksgiving in New Zealand). We caught up with them for a Thanksgiving feast that set the tone for the rest of the trip - lots of food, especially oysters, bubbles and New Zealand beef. N was set on "eating like a Kiwi," and picked up a meat pie or sausage roll at every gas station he passed.
Friday morning we set off to drive up North toward Paihia. In honor of my 32nd (!!) birthday, we stopped in Matakana for oysters and champagne at the Matakana Market Kitchen. After that we made a quick detour to explore the Waipu Caves, which are the largest non-commercial (ie free) glow worm caves in New Zealand!
Saturday we awoke to a drizzly day - not ideal considering all that we had planned! But we found a place to stay dry and the sky cleared just in time for our parasailing adventure! Some of you may recall that I have historically been very afraid of heights, but am working to overcome that. For me, parasailing was a baby step to paragliding, which I'm hoping to do in Queenstown in February. It was the step I needed to - it was so much more relaxing than I could have imagined!
After that it was time for my most favourite of all New Zealand adventures - a night on the Rock Houseboat!
We first stayed on the Rock back in February, and have been wanting to go back ever since. Even though the weather was a bit crap, we had a blast!
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| Clockwise from top left: Birthday brunch; the PJs H picked up at Hot Topic (with matching pants for the guys - little did she know I already own a few things from this line); in the Waipu Caves; Hannah as Jonah |
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| Parasailing! |
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| Snorkeling - I passed on snorkeling this time around because the water was so cold, but the others are clearly tougher than I am. |
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| Fishing - Rob was the only one who caught a fish, probably because of his come-hither fishing stance. Our captain caught an octopus with the fish Rob caught (it wasn't very big). |
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Have you ever seen a penguin dance?
We love the Rock! |
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| Some of the delicacies on the rock - including some kinna (blech). |
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| Thanks for coming to visit! We had so much fun and miss you already! |
